Zahid Hamidi is aware of calls for him to step down

KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is aware of the pressure from various quarters who want him to step down following the BN's performance in the state elections last Saturday.

Zahid, who is also the Umno president and deputy prime minister, had explained his responsibility towards Umno's defeat, especially in the many seats they contested.

"Even though I am responsible for the election results, as (Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani) emphasised, it should be the joint responsibility of the Umno leadership," he said, quoting a report from a news portal today.

He said the calls asking him to step down were not the first time the Umno president had faced the situation. Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi hadfaced the same situation.

"I am aware of the call (to step down). What I can promise is that I, with the help of the party leadership, will do more to restore the confidence of the people.

"This is not the first time the Umno president has been pressured to step down. It has happened before, including to Pak Lah (Tun Abdullah) and also to Datuk Seri Najib, when the election results were not in our favour," he said.

Therefore, he said, Umno and BN will examine the approach and strategy after this including using new methods to win the hearts of the voters.

"We will examine approaches and strategies. We will adopt new ones so that we can win the hearts and minds of voters once again," he said, quoting the news report.

He added that Umno also needed to address the confusion among its members regarding the party's decision to cooperate with the Democratic Action Party (DAP) under the unity government.

"We did several sessions to explain this matter at the divisional level. Perhaps, the message did not reach the grassroots or perhaps it needs to be explained further at that level," he said.

BN especially Umno suffered a heavy defeat in the recent state elections where they only won 19 seats out of 108 they contested. Umno also failed to win any state assembly (DUN) seat in Terengganu.

Related Articles